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Vice Launches European Sports Channels in Three Key Territories (Exclusive)

Following the debut of Vice Sports last summer, the media behemoth is launching sports sites in the U.K., Germany and Spain today.

Vice is looking to score in Europe as it launches local editions of its Vice Sports site in the U.K., Germany and Spain today.

Vice Sports went live in the U.S. last summer following the launch of Vice News in March and its food channel, Munchies, in April. Its music site Noisey has been around since 2011.

“I’m confident that we can take what we’ve learned launching so many channels and start out full throttle. It can be difficult launching new sites, but fortunately with the incredible ambition of our company we’ve had a lot of practice at it,” global head of content Alex Miller told The Hollywood Reporter.

The U.S. sports site has so far premiered a short-film and a feature-length documentary as well as six video series including Fanfare, which profiles the world’s most dedicated fans; Off Day, which follows athletes during their downtime; series on both retired and up-and-coming stars; and sit-down interviews and profiles. They will launch documentary series Sports Shorts in June.

In the same Vice spirit, the European coverage will be unconventional, focusing not on stats but stories of players, personalities and rivalries.

“In sports, you have localized teams, localized rivalries and localized sports like cricket. So in that way it’s a different challenge, and all our offices are going to charge after it with that kind of localized fury,” he said, also noting the local stories have international appeal to the ‘international generation’ that make up the bulk of Vice’s viewers.

“A documentary between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid — that’s an international story, but when we can tell it from a localized perspective, that’s a real game changer. It’s a real ace up our sleeve to have these international offices to talk about these things in a truly active rather than a distant manner.”

There will also be an emphasis on women’s sports, which Vice believes are often overlooked by other outlets.

The company will continue to expand its international sports coverage with launches in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy and Latin America later this year.